A bipartisan group of lawmakers accused European authorities of a money grab by seeking more than $14.5 billion in back taxes from Apple Inc.'s Ireland operations, and some are using the case to call for a tax overhaul.

The European Commission concluded Tuesday that Ireland should recover 13 billion euros in “unpaid taxes” — plus interest —from the tech giant's operations in the country.

House Ways and Means Chairman Kevin Brady said the decision is “a predatory and naked tax grab” and called for Congress to act on making the U.S. tax system more attractive for multinational companies to remain in the country.

“This is occurring because our uncompetitive tax code strands American profits overseas instead of allowing businesses to bring those profits home to reinvest in our jobs, research, and growth,” the Texas Republican said in a statement. “Instead of standing by and allowing other countries to deliver multibillion-dollar tax bills to American companies, Washington should act now to ensure this doesn't happen again.”

Sen. Charles E. Schumer also called for an overhaul of the tax system to require multinational companies to bring their revenues back to the United States.

“This is a cheap money grab by the European Commission, targeting U.S. businesses and the U.S. tax base,” the New York Democrat said in a statement.

At the White House, Press Secretary Josh Earnest said the Obama administration is "concerned about a unilateral approach in state aid negotiations that threaten to undermine progress that we have made collaboratively with the Europeans to make the international taxation system fair."

If European officials have gripes with international tax regimes, they should work on those matters "jointly" with the United States and other governments, he added.

Earnest also warned that the billions in back taxes "could be treated in the U.S. tax system as a current tax payment that would allow, essentially, Apple to deduct that EU tax payment from their U.S. taxes," a move he said would not be fair to American taxpayers.

Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon raised the same concern, noting in a statement that "because of the way our outdated tax laws work, American taxpayers could be on the hook for a big portion of this penalty.​"

Wyden, the top Democrat on the Senate Finance Committee, said the panel will work with the Treasury Department to monitor the case.

“This ruling could set a dangerous precedent that undermines our tax treaties and paints a target on American firms in the eyes of foreign governments,” he said.

Many technology companies based in the United States, including other major players such as Google and Facebook, have operations in Ireland, which has a corporate tax rate of 12.5 percent.